Fire tends to occur around the engine cabin in an automobile especially owing to overheating or oil spillage in accidents. It is crucial to cease the fire at the beginning before it spreads to other parts of the automobile particularly the fuel tank which may lead to explosions. However, the engine of an automobile is generally enclosed in a small compartment that instant access to it for quenching the fire is almost impossible. Consequently, a pre-installed fire extinguishing system within the engine cabin to quench the fire by automatic or manual operation is highly desired. For example, United Kingdom patent application no. 2306320, 2362099, and International patent application WO9523630 respectively describe fire suppressing system for automobile that pressurized gas tank is particularly utilized in the described system for quenching the fire. Despite these systems may be able to fulfill the needed fire extinguishing function, pressurized gas tanks require relatively larger space in the engine cabin for installation and it is not favorable considering the limited space available in the cramped engine cabin.
Other patented technologies can be found in United States patent publication No. US2004262017 and International patent application no. 2006138733 that inert gas-generating solid propellants are employed for removing the fire. Gas-based systems disperse inert aerosol to flaming objects to temporarily create an oxygen deprived environment to extinguish the fire and such systems are proved useful for fire incidents occurred in buildings but possibly not suitable for engine cabins. Presence of spilt gasoline in the engine cabin tends to re-combust once the aerosol is depleted therefore recurrence of the fire is likely to happen using gas-based systems. It is much preferred that the fire extinguishing properties can last until the used agent is safely removed after. Likewise, efficiency of water-based systems filled with surfactant is less effective since gasoline floats on top of water, while foaming agent or surfactant can be corrosive to the engine of the automobile. To tackle the above mentioned shortcoming, a fire extinguishing system using non-corrosive yet lasting active agent is highly desired.